Magick (Book 3 in the Coven Series)

by Trish Milburn

  “I can’t believe we did that,” Toni says. “My mother would faint dead away.”

  “I don’t think Rev. Dawes would be terribly happy about it either.”

  “Good thing they’re not here to see then.” Toni lifts an eyebrow and smiles a wicked little smile.

  “This is what our life should be like,” I say. “Sneaking around with boys, laughing, anticipating the next time we’ll see them.” A bit of reality crashes into me. “Not fate-of-the-world stuff.”

  Toni swats my hand where it hangs off the side of my bed. “No gloomies this morning. We’re going to bask in the glow a little bit longer, then we’re going to go all ninja on black magic’s ass.”

  I bark out a laugh. “I can just see Sarah if we pull out some ninja moves.”

  “You ask me, things need a little livening up around here.”

  Sarah does look at us funny half an hour later when we arrive in the dining room and Toni pulls one of those goofy kung fu movie poses, hands at the ready for chopping and her right foot lifted as if in preparation for a kick. I try to stifle a snort but am not very successful.

  “You two seem to be in a better mood this morning,” Sarah says. “I told you a good night’s rest would help.” Before she turns away, I think I see a little knowing smirk on her lips and a twinkle in her eyes.

  We are crazy to think anything goes on in this facility that Sarah doesn’t know about. Now that I think about it, there are probably hidden cameras everywhere down here. Good to know for future reference.

  I’m too anxious to eat much for breakfast. Between the buzz I get when Keller is near me and the fear that’s building regarding accessing my power again, there’s just not much room for food. After picking at my omelet, I push my plate away. I glance over and notice that Egan isn’t faring much better. And that boy not having an appetite says better than anything what we’re about to face.

  “Looks like breakfast is the last thing on anyone’s mind this morning,” Sarah says, then pushes her chair away from the table. “Might as well get to work.” She leads us to the room where Egan was held when we first arrived here, but the desk and chair have been cleared away.

  Sarah walks to the center of the room and turns toward us. She directs her attention to Keller and Toni. “While we work with Egan and Jax, you’ll be taken to retrieve the rest of your belongings from the farmhouse. You also can call your families to assure them that you’re safe and let them know it might be a while before you check in again.”

  “No,” Keller says. “We want to stay here with them.”

  “There’s no need,” Sarah says. “Plus, it might be dangerous.”

  “We’ve had some success with me being able to keep Jax calm when her magic threatens to get out of control,” he says. “Same with Toni and Egan.”

  “Maybe when Jax hadn’t fully released her power,” Sarah says, not swayed.

  “It’s okay,” I say as I meet Keller’s gaze. “We’ll be able to concentrate without worrying about hurting you.” When he looks about to object, I smile. “Besides, we need more clothes.”

  “And we don’t want to leave our things unattended for someone to find,” Egan says with enough emphasis that I know he means Keller’s cache of weapons, which are hopefully still in his truck near the cemetery.

  Keller still doesn’t like the idea, but he relents. “We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

  I nod. I don’t realize until he and Toni leave the room just how much I’ve been worrying about their safety this morning. Yes, I’m letting them be part of the planning and prep for the coming confrontation with the covens, but I can’t let go of the fear of hurting them. When I glance at Egan and see him visibly relax as soon as Toni leaves the room, I know I’m not the only one thinking that way.

  I turn toward Sarah and notice that Hope and Caren have stayed behind, too. “So, how does this work?”

  “We will gradually release the bonds on your magic until you can feel it again and see how it reacts,” Sarah says. “Egan, I’m less concerned about yours, but Jax’s is a different story. Her dark magic was fully engaged when we took her down, so it’s possible that when hers is freed it might surface in the same state.”

  Bile rises in my throat. “I’m not so sure this is a good idea.”

  “Unless you’re willing to live the rest of your life bound and unable to protect yourself or your friends, then we don’t have a choice.” Sarah watches me, waiting for my decision.

  I take a deep breath. “Fine. But I can’t guarantee I can control it. When . . . when I was killing Barrow, I felt like a different person. I did not think like I am right now. I felt no remorse.”

  Sarah nods. “We understand what we’re up against.”

  Caren and Hope move to stand a few feet in front of Egan and me. “Lift your left arms,” Caren says and gives me an encouraging smile.

  Egan and I comply, and the two sisters lift their hands, fingers outstretched toward us. At first, I only feel a slight tingle in my wrist. I meet Egan’s gaze as the skin begins to warm. It feels sort of like the time I got too cold while skiing at Vail and experienced an unpleasant prickly feeling when I came inside to thaw. I flex my fingers and rotate my wrist to try to alleviate the discomfort.

  I wince when the first tinge of pain hits me as the skin begins edging back from where it’s attached to the silver. I bite my lip as I remember with vivid clarity how excruciating the pain had been when they’d clamped the bracelet onto me that night next to the cemetery.

  Egan grunts beside me, obviously feeling the same thing. I haven’t asked him about when his bracelet was put on, but I can’t imagine it was any more pleasant than my experience.

  Suddenly, I gasp as I feel the first hint of my dark magic. “Wait!”

  Caren and Hope stop, but the burning sensation in my arm doesn’t.

  “We need to keep going,” Sarah says.

  “I know.” I rub my hand over my wrist, trying to massage away some of the discomfort. “But I think you should do it separately, only one of us at a time.” I glance at Egan before returning my gaze to Sarah. “My power might have been the only one fully activated that night, but my magic affects Egan’s.”

  Since that night we fought my coven, we’ve been able to sense each other’s emotions. If I’m angry, it’s harder for him to keep his anger in check.

  “But you didn’t help her kill Barrow,” Hope says.

  “No, but I wanted to.” He shakes his head and takes a few steps away from me. “It’s hard to explain, but it was like black flames were licking at me. Honestly, I was on the verge of giving in when you all showed up. As soon as you shot Jax with that poison, the flames went away.” He meets my eyes and before he says another word I know he’s about to reveal something new, something he hasn’t even told me. “I felt her pain when you put her bracelet on, before anyone got near me with one. And then I felt our magic just disappear.”

  Caren takes a few steps toward him. “When did you first notice this connection?”

  “When I woke up in the hospital after we fought Jax’s coven.”

  Caren looks at her sister then Sarah, who has known about us feeling connected but not to this extent. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  They both nod.

  “They formed a new coven bond,” Sarah says. “That hasn’t happened since the covens were first formed during the witch trials.”

  “A coven bond?” I say. “Like what we have with our families?”

  “I think so, yes. But different.”

  I feel my forehead scrunch as I try to understand.

  “You can sense members of your covens, but that’s out of your control,” Sarah says. “That bond formed centuries before you were born. You have no choice in it, and it’s strong. But what you’re describing, it sounds stronger.”

  Hope walks toward us and glances first at me then Egan. “Maybe because they chose it, even if it was unconscious.”

  “And it’s based on t
rue friendship, a more powerful connection than even genetics,” Caren adds.

  I press my palm to my forehead. “Does anyone besides me feel like we’re rewriting witch history here?”

  Sarah smiles for the first time since I woke up here in the Bane’s compound. “How’s it feel to be a pioneer?”

  “Like my brain is going to melt.”

  Sarah claps her hands together. “This calls for some experiments. Let’s start again, but we’ll focus on Egan first since his magic is less likely to be dangerous right out of the gate.”

  “Just call me the guinea pig,” he says as he lifts his arm again.

  I hold my breath as Hope resumes the process of pulling back the harness on Egan’s magic. Though I only feel the slightest bit of mine, it’s still enough for me to once again feel the connection to Egan. A coven bond that’s still so wild to think about. Even without access to my own magic, already I feel more powerful. My nerves fire at that thought.

  “It’s okay,” Sarah says, ever observant. “We’re taking it slow, and you can’t do anything at this point.”

  She says that, but as Egan gains more and more access to his power the skin on my wrist feels as if it’s being tugged away from my bracelet. Like the power inside me is fighting to get out.

  Hope lowers her hands. “Just a little bit more and the suppression will be gone. You’ll be able to access your power. Even though the bracelet will prevent you from using dark magic, that doesn’t mean there’s not a danger. It’s hard to predict how pent-up magic will behave when released. You might have to quickly get a hold on it.”

  “No pressure there,” Egan says. “Okay, let’s do this.” He shakes out his arms, loosening the tension gathered in his muscles.

  It surprises me that I can tell there’s tension there. Am I just more aware of the bond between us now, or can it possibly be even stronger than before?

  “Can you sense Egan now?” Sarah asks me.

  I nod. “Even with the bracelets on. I can’t sense any of you though.”

  I can tell by the slight widening of Sarah’s eyes that we’re firmly in new territory here.

  Hope uses her magic to finish pulling back the suppression spell. Egan lifts his arm, and his skin looks perfectly normal. Envy flares within me, but I bat it away. I try not to think about where it came from, that maybe a bit of my darkness is already leaking out.

  “How do you feel?” Hope asks.

  “Okay.” Egan looks at me with a touch of concern in his eyes that he hides from the others. Can he already sense the flare of envy within me? Is he thinking it’s the darkness, too?

  Sarah steps up next to Hope. “Access your magic,” she says to me. “Try to control how much and concentrate it only in one hand.”

  Egan lifts his hand and flexes his fingers slowly before cupping his hand, palm upward. I feel the power before it appears like miniature lightning arcs jumping from one finger to another. I watch it, mesmerized. It looks like a ball of energy he could throw the same as a baseball.

  “Good,” Hope says. “Now try the same thing in both hands at once.”

  After a moment, an identical ball of energy appears in his left hand. I feel the relief in him at being able to have magic at his command again and the fact that it didn’t blow up in his face.

  “Do you feel any darkness?” Sarah asks.

  He shakes his head. “No, which is weird.”

  “Look deeper, make sure.”

  I can’t feel everything he’s doing, but I know how he’s navigating down one layer at a time.

  Again, he shakes his head. “Will the magic still be as powerful?”

  “It’s the same,” Sarah says. “The only thing that is different is what you can use it for.” She looks at me. “Since the bracelets negate dark magic, it can’t be used for dark purposes.”

  “So it’s white magic?” he asks.

  “Not exactly. As we understand it, even the darkest magic is mixed with light. Only the dark magic is so overwhelming that it almost always eclipses the light. Most witches don’t even know it’s there beneath.”

  “But I thought you said not every witch has the potential to be a white witch,” I say.

  “They don’t. For instance, the Bane are somewhere in between. We know we still possess dark magic, but we keep it under control. Egan can learn to do the same. Yours is trickier.” Sarah shoves her hands into the pockets of the tan slacks she’s wearing. “Because you are the one with white witch potential, your dark magic is also stronger. Were it not for the bracelet, I think it would take over again.”

  Cold settles heavily in my middle.

  The next hour passes with Egan accessing more and more of his power. I’m equal parts anxious and afraid to tackle my own power, but the longer I have to wait the more my stomach twists itself in knots.

  “Let’s take a break and come back after lunch,” Sarah says.

  Part of me wants to protest, but I realize a break is a good idea. Even without doing anything on my part, I’m tired. While the Bane members talk to Egan, I slip from the room and wander down a hallway with no destination in mind. Every nugget of information I’ve learned since waking up chained to that chair jostles for position in my mind. I’m so lost in my own thoughts that I don’t hear the clicking of Sarah’s heels until she’s almost beside me.

  “You seem to be thinking awfully hard,” she says.

  I stop in the middle of the corridor but don’t look at her. “The more I learn, the more I’m convinced my mother was a potential white witch, and that’s why she died,” I say as more pieces of the giant puzzle slide into their designated spots in the overall picture.

  “But you said she was killed for trying to flee your coven.”

  I start walking again, slower this time. “That’s what they said, but my mother was like no one else in my family. She was kind and loving. Maybe I just didn’t see it, but I never saw her use really dark magic. But I never saw anything like the bright light I emitted during that fight with my coven either.”

  “She probably had no idea why she was different, just that she didn’t fit.”

  “Things I overlooked before are slipping into place, and I think they killed her because they didn’t want her to find out what she was.” I swallow hard and wonder if I’ll ever not want to cry when I think about her. “My father . . . he’s a horrible man. I believe he killed her so the other covens wouldn’t find out about her and call for a Conclave. To him, it was better to say his wife had run away with his children than to admit he had a potential white witch in our bloodline.”

  Sarah is quiet for a moment as my revelation hangs in the air. “I’m sorry.”

  I shrug, not trusting myself to speak.

  Sarah places her hand on my shoulder, a gesture of comfort that totally surprises me. “From what you’ve told me about her, I think your mother would be proud of you.”

  I shake my head. “She’d be appalled. She would have never killed a man.”

  “You don’t know what she would have done if people she loved were threatened.” It seems Sarah has at least partially accepted Keller’s explanation for what drove me to kill Barrow.

  I try to imagine my mother driving the life from someone like I did with Amos Barrow, and the image simply won’t form.

  “You can do what she didn’t have the opportunity to,” Sarah says. “She wanted to be free, and if we can figure out how to bring your white witch powers to fruition maybe you can find a way to convince the covens to change their ways. At least some of them. If your mom, you and Egan can be different, it stands to reason there are others.”

  I think about the message Egan received from someone claiming exactly that and decide to tell Sarah about it.

  She considers what I’ve said for a moment. “I agree it’ll be tricky to find out without giving yourselves away, but maybe we can help with that. Let me think about it, talk with the others.”

  I look down the hallway behind us. “Do all of you live here? A
nd why aren’t there any men?”

  “We stay here when the need arises, like now. But we all have normal lives, too. Homes, families, jobs. I’ve got the library. Amanda is a teacher. Hope is a stay-at-home mom, though her little ones have gone to visit her husband’s grandmother in Connecticut until this is all over. Caren is the local medical examiner. Piper goes to school in Marblehead. As for the men, it hasn’t always been all women. Right now it is because none of us have male children, and all of us are descended from the original Bane through our mothers.”

  The sounds of a door opening and closing are followed by the thud of footsteps.

  “Sounds like your friends are back,” Sarah says. She takes a step away. “We’ll start again in a couple of hours.” She heads back the way we came just as Toni and Amanda round the corner ahead of me followed by Keller and Piper.

  Something ugly rolls inside me, and I catch my breath at the fear it’s the darkness making its presence known. But then I realize it’s just good old-fashioned jealousy. When Keller notices me and smiles, the jealousy flickers out. That smile tells me more than words that I have nothing to worry about. Even Piper’s friendly smile tells me my initial reaction is foolish. She’s been nothing but nice to us, and we need all the friends we can get.

  That thought reminds me of Rule. I wonder how he and Adele are doing. I hope that they’ll not do anything too dangerous, that they’ll stay safe and well out of the line of fire. Honestly, I wish they would leave town until this is over. But even if I could communicate that message to them, I doubt they’d heed it.

  “Hey,” Toni says when she looks up from her conversation. She looks past me as Amanda follows in Sarah’s wake. “Where’s Egan?”

  “Working on becoming Egan the Good Witch.”

  “Not too good, I hope,” Toni says under her breath.

  Piper laughs, and Keller covers his ears. “I have to bleach my eardrums now,” he says. But he lowers his hands to pull me into his arms, planting a kiss on top of my head.